For My Next Trick…

I need to learn how to order/eat healthy meals. Last night I went to George’s for “Third Wednesday” and promptly ordered a chiliburger, with cole slaw (which, when placed on the burger was quite tasty) for dinner. I have a knack for ordering food that is terrible for my weight-loss efforts. Oh, the two beers didn’t help either.

Today’s Personal Project
Feel comfortable in my clothes, not eat a poor lunch or dinner (breakfast has already been consumed and because I feel the need to have real food in my stomach when taking medication was larger than I’d like it to be).

Today’s Daily Challenge
Do four standing abdominal stretches.

This exercise provides a nice stretch for the oblique muscles, the long, diagonal muscles on either side of your midsection. The obliques are what help you bend from side to side and allow you to twist your torso. Strengthening these muscles can help you perform everyday tasks with less risk of injury. And when done regularly, oblique exercises can help whittle your waist.

This sounds like something I should be doing more.

Fun Time In The Highlands
After getting my haircut I sauntered over to George’s Bar for a few pints, an unhealthy meal, and a fun evening of chatting with friends old and new. Kudos to ITP-Reader Steve for starting this once-a-month meetup, I hope that it continues for some time.

One of the things I’d like to do is actually run from George’s on Wednesday nights again. I know, its a mostly-dead tradition, but I’d like to give it a shot again.

Yesterday I did sixty (Galloway Method) minutes on the treadmill and felt pretty good (disregarding all of the chest nonsense that the flu/bronchitis has been dealing me). I’m still a fat runner and not a fast runner, my first four ten-minute stints were done at 6.0mph while my last was done at 6.5mph) but I am trying.

I’m Finally Going To Learn Markdown
This is strictly for the nerds.

For at least two years I have been trying to learn the Markdown syntax and adapt my writing habits to use it.

For those who don’t know (and care) Markdown is a text-based syntax used to represent HTML tagging syntax. For instance, if you wanted to create a hypertext link in your document you would type:

[Inside The Perimeter](http://www.insidetheperimeter.com/)

and when that is passed through a Markdown processor it would get converted into the appropriate HTML markup in order to represent a hypertext link.

This morning I found out that David Sparks (aka MacSparky) has just released a Markdown title in his “MacSparky Field Guides” series. The eBook is $10 and I have purchased it.

For my next trick I am going to finally learn Markdown.

ITP Flickr Pic
My lunch yesterday was bought at the Blaxican Food Truck.

The food was really good, but a bit on the pricey side. I had two fish tacos, sweet potato fries, and a Mexican Sprite, which cost me $13. In my world $13 is still a lot of money for lunch, especially when you are buying from a truck and taking it back to work.

Listening At 1.5x
I have recently revolutionized my podcast listening by changing the settings of all of the talk-radio style podcasts to play back at 1.5x speed. I’ve found that by upping the speed I can still completely understand all of the talking (I am a native New Yorker, so this should come as no surprise), though admittedly any bumper music played within a podcast sounds odd. By cranking up the speed I am able to get through more podcasts in a day, which has made finding new podcasts possible again.

For my next trick I am going to see if I can make the same adjustments for audiobooks. I plan to listen to audiobooks when toiling on the treadmill. Before I know it, I’ll have knocked out a lot of “reading.”

Theatre-Going Tonight
Tonight I’ll be headed to midtown to see the Hertz Stage at the Alliance Theatre‘s performance of “The Whipping Man.” Tonight’s outing is a rescheduling of my initial ticket date of last Thursday; the play was bumped to this week by my desire to go to the Cocoaheads Atlanta meet up.

I know absolutely nothing about tonight’s play and plan on remaining oblivious so that I am not tainted going in.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fat
Current Music – silence
Website Of The Day – You know, for a relatively small state Vermont has an impressive number of beer breweries, and they have a Vermont Beer Brewers Association.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – sadly, 213.6 pounds

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~3.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – ~42.0 miles
Gym Visits – 3 (3 cardio)

Days Of Bed-Making – 0

Vegetarian Meals – 27
Carnivorous Meals – 27

Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0

March Goals
– not get sick
– lose two pounds
– walk/run no fewer that 50 miles
– lift weights at the gym no fewer than eight times
– finish at least two of the books I am reading
– take at least one box of things to Goodwill
– post at least ten photos in the blog
– drink a lot less alcohol
– prepare a house repair plan and budget
– return ITP-Reader Martha’s coffee percolator to her
– return ITP-Terri’s crutches to her

2013 Goals: Measurable
– Get my weight down to 190 pounds so that I can wear a 36″ waist pants comfortably
– Completely read ten books, audio books permissible
– Dissolve Sharpened Stone
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Completely run at least one 10k
– Fix all (or at least most) of the things which are wrong with the ITP Estate

2013 Goals: Unmeasurable
– Simplify, simplify, simplify
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
– Eat smaller portions
– Start, and continue, to make my own bread using my bread machine as well as using the technique outlined in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
– Read and discard magazines during the month in which they arrive (even digitally)
– Take two real vacations, perhaps one abroad
– Take a more proactive approach to meeting women (read “stop being such a pussy”)

Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2013

1. Pages 1.7 for iPad (Timestompers Guide) – by Sean Wells

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]